Rain's Legacy
by Lady Ami-chan
Summary: This is only part 1!! Enjoy it -- this may go on for awhile. I'm bad at writing summaries... but this story


Note Silver/Amiboshi. Nobody ever reads my Author's Notes anyway, right? If you do and you want me to continue with them, e-mail me at NotesofWinter@aol.com or leave a review telling me so. Okay?  
  
  
  
~*~)(Rain's Legacy)(~*~  
  
)(Part 1)(  
  
Off in the starry night there were portents of mystery and brilliance abroad. The branches of trees reached like haggard hands to silver and gild their rips against the black silk of the sky. The wind whipped the rain like mercury, crushing transient blossoms in its heavy downpour.  
  
The lights of the palace, however, shone out like beacons. The high walls were coated and slippery with rainwater, slick and shining marble.  
  
With bowed head, a young girl strained under the weight of a heavy ceramic vase, full of hot water, as she carried it down the corridor toward the twins' room. Her steps were faltering, slipping as she dripped the water on the floor and then put her slippered feet into the puddles.  
  
Finally she arrived at her destination, the chamber in which the twins stayed. Lord Nakago had assigned her to be maidservant to them. He had promised her that if she failed to be servile and to cater to their every whim, that she would be forgotten in his attentions. Silver didn't intend to be -- she would leap to whatever command they gave. "My lords, your bath water's ready," she said, her large blue eyes fearful. She didn't know of their temperaments in the least. She had only been told about Suboshi's brisk temper and deft movements by the other maids, who would come back to the maids' quarters silent and quieted, dazed.  
  
These thoughts helped Silver none. Her hands shook and trembled, and the slick pitcher slid in her grasp. If she were to drop it... She gave a cry, and instantly someone had grasped the pitcher. Someone warmly male, with sandy hair and a bath-sheet rolled tightly around a slender waist, with long, sinuous legs exposed below, and a narrow, smooth, muscled chest above. A lackadaisical half-smile slid over those full, gentle lips, and his indigo eyes were half-closed. All these little nuances combined to form a feline appearance, almost lazy and rather like a sleepy angel. "Thank goodness I heard your scream, miss. You must be the maid. Am I correct?" That smile returned, and his voice was soft and musical, caressing Silver's jangled nerves.  
  
"Y-yes, milord." Silver's soft, slow, purring voice was silenced quickly when she realized that he was quite undressed beneath the sheet, and that he was male, and that he would need assistance with the bath. She had been a lady-in-waiting for the empress, but nobody was safe from Nakago's commandeering. He would 'borrow' a servant from one profession and place that poor befuddled girl or boy into another. Just a week ago he had commandeered a kitchen maid for the harem. "I a-a-am Silver. I'm to serve you in every way for the night." She lowered her rainy-silver eyes, and bowed her head again, causing braided hip-length sparrow-brown hair to slide over her slender shoulder. Her flush was innocent and soft, and matched the pale rose tucked prettily into the waves of that sandy hair, just above her ear. For jewelry, she wore a single strand of jade beads about her slender throat, and from her earlobes dangled tiny twin spheres of pale green jade, suspended by a fine silver chain. She was the perfect image of a court miss, but there was something about Silver that made her seem desperately beautiful, despite the lack of fancy things, despite the creamy shade of her skin. It made Suboshi wonder what she would look like, sprawled over silken bed-sheets, with that glorious hair freed from its braid, those stormy eyes glazed with passion, those soft lips kissed into submission. He shivered involuntarily. Such a thought threatened to cause dreams he probably shouldn't have. She had to be promised to someone.  
  
Suboshi laughed softly and, wonder of all wonders, brushed his lips against Silver's cheek. "Worry not, sweet miss." His voice was low and tempting and seductive, rich with laughter. "You'll be our..." he paused, "... companion." That catlike expression was warm on his fine countenance. He might have been the son of a lord for all Silver could tell. His handsome fineness was almost regal, his soft lips -- so silken and strong, like fine satin over pure gold -- were warmly quirked into a perpetual grin of amusement.  
  
It wasn't as though Silver was virginal, though. She had been a particular favorite of Nakago's for a long while, despite the fact that she was barely fourteen. Age didn't matter in the corrupt palace society. Though the general was twenty-five, their liaisons weren't publicly frowned upon. He had been so gentle, as it were, and Silver was but a girl. In this society, girls were weak and defenseless, and the people, as a fact, thought that Nakago was being generous. Silver thought he loved her. He was her lover always. His gentle aristocratic hands could make her shiver with pleasure, no matter her mood.  
  
She had been taken from the rubble of an abandoned house when Nakago was a man of twenty. They had called her, and she had come blindly, willingly into the arms of the soldiers, as bare as day itself, a nubile girl of ten.  
  
It had been Nakago that had named her Silver. The memory was fresh in her mind as the very moment. The motionless face, kept as tightly closed as a bud, blossomed for her as he gazed intently into those frightened silver- star eyes. "Your eyes." He had been intrigued with her, beautiful and fragile as a tiny flower as she was. "Your eyes. They look like a silver rainfall." Those had been the first words he had spoken to anyone in nearly a month. His face had lit brilliantly with a light she could not understand. "You will be my Silver Rains, my sweet rainy-eyed angel."  
  
Silver now followed Suboshi into the room, thinking desperately that were anyone but her Nakago to touch her, trying to pleasure her, she might well die there in their hands, and let her spirit fly out into her namesake that pelted the walls mercilessly. An identical twin to the handsome Suboshi was in a state of partial undress, sitting on the window-seat and gazing out the window, his slender, strong legs folded beneath him. "Aniki. The bath water's ready," Suboshi said with a sudden gentleness in his velvet-and-chocolate voice.  
  
The other had looked towards them then, and noticed Silver cowering, clinging to the vase for dear life. Her slender hands clutched the handles. "Poor girl. Is she all right?" Concern touched the sudden, gentle voice.  
  
Suboshi took the water-carrier from Silver, who straightened instantly, trying to put a spark of defiance in her rainwater-silver eyes, a spark that refused to come on command. Her full lips trembled as she lifted her fragile face uncertainly, attempting arrogance. "I am Silver Rains. I am the maid that's to stay with you tonight, milord." She offered a tentative bow.  
  
Amiboshi smiled a moment. "Welcome, Silver. I'm certain you can be of assistance. I warn you, Suboshi is not shy about bathing." Something soft touched his voice gently, and his cheeks flushed rosily.  
  
Silver lowered her head docilely when, within, she was seething with worry and fear. She deftly filled the tub with the water, which turned out to be steamy hot. "Whichever of you pleases, my lords, the bath is ready."  
  
There was a shared glance between the twins, and Suboshi finally stepped forward into the bathing room, allowing the bathsheet to drop. Silver's face flamed hotly, and she frantically reminded herself, repeating the fact that the sight and feel of a man's body was nothing new to her like a mantra.  
  
She raised her eyes to Suboshi's. There was something like apology in the indigo depths, and Silver was grateful. Taking up a cloth, she began to wash the tall, slender form.  
  
Her hands shook. She was afraid; Suboshi could read it in those rainy silver eyes as easily as it were written there. The fragile, slender girl sparked his desire, though, and it sizzled hotly within as her soft hands expertly cleansed the muscle-hardened planes of his body. But she was so young, and so tiny; what if --  
  
A frustrated moan escaped him as he wrenched his hand up to drag through his thick, baby-fine crop of dirty-blonde hair. Silver looked up in sudden upset. "Oh, sire, have I hurt you?" Those anxious rainwater-silver eyes caught his again.  
  
No, only started that damned desire. Those beguiling rainy-night eyes had lit that inferno in his blood, sent it racing like some flaming spice through his spirit. He fought to keep himself under control until his eyes flashed like twin sapphires. That heart-shaped face with its trembling lips made him tense further. "No... thank you, that's quite enough... I'm thoroughly clean now." His voice had the sudden inflexibility of hundred- year oak, and he stepped from the hot water, stretching avidly. "I'll tell my brother that it's his turn, miss." Suboshi strode curtly from the small room, leaving Silver wondering at her mistake.  
  
Damned if Suboshi didn't desire this angelic court princess who wasn't! She had stirred something in him. He was fifteen, and though it took very little to stir that artless temperament of his, Suboshi had thought himself quite immune to charms of the feminine sort. It turned out he was quite wrong.  
  
"You lust for her, brother," Amiboshi's soft, chiding voice came, slipping beneath the thoughts that seemed to be lined up and flashing disconnectedly in Suboshi's mind. His brother's innocent eyes spotted the irrefutable evidence, and Suboshi lowered his eyes. He had been forced to make an exit from the bathroom so Silver wouldn't find out, and now he was facing his twin. "It's not unusual, though." He was gently telling him that it was all right. Suboshi smiled. His brother always could make that embarrassment seep away like so much water into the ground. He found himself calming quietly. "It's natural." Amiboshi's voice was comforting, soothing that storm inside him away into calm. Amiboshi stood quietly and passed his brother on the way to the bathing pool.  
  
Silver knelt beside it, weeping. Her slim shoulders had set to trembling heavily. She was daintily feminine, appealing and gentle. Doubtless his brother had done something to set the pretty creature out. He sank to his knees beside her, then gently drew her against his chest. Instinctively she burrowed into his shoulder, her tears hot against his bare, cool skin. "Shh..." he soothed.  
  
His brother's terse reaction to her sweet ministrations had been the final straw, he sensed. Silver was overburdened and so young. Those rainwater-silver eyes were so soft, so mournful. Amiboshi thought her beautiful -- but who wouldn't? She was slender, but with those pleasingly soft curves pressed so close to him, Amiboshi suddenly doubted his own perception. Silver Rains, she had said was her name. She was as gentle as such that poured outside, and as warm. His slender hands stroked her back as she wept her frustration, her sadness, her old desperation, and crawled into his lap like a child.  
  
Her tears waned slowly, leaving their wet tracks down her cheeks. Silver looked up and Amiboshi had a sudden impression of wide stormy eyes framed by dark, thick, lush lashes, a face the pale hue of the inner petals of a white rose, and soft sparrow-colored waves escaping from that bedeviled braid. His heart leapt suddenly. Her lips tugged into a slow, hopeful, soul-wrenching smile, and her lashes fluttered to half-mast as though in anticipation. How could he deny her?  
  
He bent gently to capture those full, heavenly-soft lips with his own, his eyes dropping closed as a sudden flash went through him, sizzling hotly. Amiboshi's ardence flared into sudden brightness. She gave a soft sigh, fairly melting against him. Time paused in its weary stride and observed the pairing with a smile. Even the rain's pounding surged stronger in anticipation.  
  
As though in a dream, the bathsheet fell away, leaving Amiboshi quite bare. Simmering heat coursed through him, bringing feelings to life he never thought that his peaceful body would incur. A moment's regret poised him on the brink of withdrawal. Why, then, should he love this beautiful innocent, when his brother had tried and failed?  
  
Silver's demanding, soft purr made his mind up for him as she trailed a soft wisp of kisses along the pale expanse of his throat. "Be mine..."  
  
~*~  
  
Suboshi lay curled up peacefully on the bed, asleep. A soft blue radiance, a watching, a... a knowing surrounded him. He stiffened, his eyes flashing wide open. An image of a woman, small, fair, beautiful, filled his every sense. Silver eyes, covered flirtingly by lashes of a dark rich mahogany hue, filled with love. Yet, when Suboshi reached for the slender body, Silver wasn't there.  
  
This sort of torture was exquisite. Suboshi's voice rose in a cry, a crescendo that drew to its end when the rain beyond the walls escalated into a storm, as thunder crashed and lighting filled the skies with its sudden cold fury.  
  
The identicals found sudden solace at the same moment.  
  
~*~  
  
Silver awoke first, stirring softly. When she had come to enough, she went to move -- and her eyes widened in shock. Someone lay against her, bare as summer and with that peculiar smile of satisfaction that could only mean one thing! She withdrew as quickly and quietly as she could without waking the slender boy, then ran silently from the room, her rainy eyes full of desperate disgust at her own wanton act.  
  
Tears streaked her cheeks again, erasing the dusty salt of her shed sweat, of her previous weeping. Silver's steps were uneven, her breaths gasping, her hands trembling. What had she done? She pressed her hands to her flat stomach. What if --  
  
Oh, heavens. What if she carried his child? And worse, what if Nakago found out?  
  
Suddenly Silver felt filthy, unclean. She felt as though she were nothing more than a common courtesan for hire, flirting her way through the palace. Her hands fluttered away from her stomach and to her dripping cheeks. What could she do?  
  
Silver was so distraught that she didn't recognize Nakago standing before her and crashed completely into him, sobbing and weeping desperately. She couldn't tell him. She couldn't! Her heart ached, and her mind reeled with confusion.  
  
He was so strong, she realized suddenly. So tall, so comforting, so definite -- he encircled her in that embrace that always made her think of the night sky, so warm and distant and beautiful. "My sweet Silver Rains... what's upset you?" Nakago said gently to her, wrapping her shivering body against his with that blue cloak he often wore.  
  
Silver buried her face in his broad, warm chest. There wasn't a way to tell him. What was she to say? That she'd 'serviced' the gentle twin? Impossible! This night was full of impossibilities and pain, surely as the rain matched her name. She ached all over. Never mind the fact that most of it was the pleasant ache of her body having done what it was supposed to. "Ohhh... Nakago..." Her voice trembled softly, a rich purring quieted and made broken by the insistent tears.  
  
"Shh. I'll hold you... until it's all okay."  
  
~*~)(Seven Years Later)(~*~  
  
Outdoors the softest of drizzles fell gently through the spring air. The blooming cherry trees nodded softly in the slight breezes. Nakago watched from the shelter of the veranda while Silver, dressed in a wildly- flapping sari, her sparrow-colored hair free and whipping enticingly about, taught the silver-haired, indigo-eyed little girl to dance in the rain. He sighed. Shoukitei was threatening. He would take the tiny child into his harem after killing Silver with careful torture, calculated to extract all possible pain from her and then killing her.  
  
There was nothing Nakago could do. He would have to leave soon; a sizzling discontent was brewing on the Kutou/Konan border. Ice burned within his chest. It was really too bad that another doll-like child would be under the lusts of the evil ruler. Rue the day Nakago had been born! This life was too full of black darkness, too full of the ache of misfortune. This world was painful.  
  
But, he mused with an infinitesimal smile, there were the good things to it. Silver and little Nadari bounding about playfully in the wet grass was one. Another was running an empire from the background, pleasantly concealed. One day he would kill Shoukitei and end it all. He would be the ruler. The empire would despise a Hin ruler desultorily, but once he proved his deft capabilities, he would be respected and loved. With luck, that was.  
  
Nadari's full name was Nadari Sakura. She'd been born under the cherry blossoms. Silver had been inconsolable until, at precisely one moment after midnight, she'd been taken outside to her special place within the cherry orchards. She had relaxed and little Nadari Sakura had been born soon after.  
  
Silver's soft, low laughter could be heard, and suddenly Nadari's joined it in a high, intriguing soprano that was inherited neither from him nor Silver. That was funny. Not much of the child could even be claimed as his own. Possibly the deep blue of her eyes, but that was it. The fragile bone structure was Silver's, combined with some aspects he didn't recognize. The child did have an unnatural talent for all things musical. But Nakago couldn't be sure that Silver hadn't as well, in her childhood. He couldn't recall his own, but he was almost positive he'd not been musically inclined.  
  
Nadari was more delicate than his own features, but he recalled how tiny and precious Silver had been at ten. Nadari was now seven years old, three years younger than her mother had been when he'd found her -- strange thought that, with Silver now twenty-two and wed to him for the past seven years -- and she showed all the signs of being a perfect blossom like her mother had been.  
  
If Shoukitei's plan didn't go off without a hitch, Nakago's own would be right there to catch him in its jaws. It would hold good for the empire, but none for Shoukitei. Death hung shrouded over the emperor's chambers, creating an almost tangible atmosphere around the palace.  
  
Silver and Nadari were the only ones blessedly ignorant of the growing sense of desperation. The very air was tense and heavy, unrelieved by the constant rain of spring. Even the veriest idiots among the servants caught the subtle feuding of the two palace superpowers. Shoukitei's power? He could shove Nakago right out of the ranks of nobles if he pleased, or send him into battle with alacrity. Nakago's power? He could rebel using his mental energy. Too bad Nakago couldn't bring himself to jump before push came to shove.  
  
And what if, as Nakago sometimes thought, Silver had her own subtle power? What if she could defend herself and just had yet to gain awareness of her situation? There had always been something about the beautiful foundling that Nakago couldn't touch, except back then, bare as day and eyes that stormy, rainwater-silver, that sense of knowing had been so close that it used to sting him. With the beautiful child not knowing her own name, much less her past, it was quite possible.  
  
Nakago turned inside, pacing down the corridor toward their chambers. The summons to battle would come very quickly now; he could sense the fear of the emperor's advisor coming down the sprawling marble staircase. A small, wistful smile captured those still lips for only a moment before they stiffened in the sight of the advisor. "I know," he murmured, his voice low and still. "I'm on my way."  
  
The advisor's mouth worked like a fish's for a moment, his eyes wide and dark before he regained his composure. "Of course. Right this way, Lord Nakago..."  
  
~*~  
  
Silver shivered as she silently led Nadari into the cold, wet, dark depths of the palace labyrinths, occasionally pausing to draw with her finger an invisible ideogram on the damp, greenish walls. "He can't. He won't." Her purring voice had risen several octaves to a soprano whisper. "I won't let him have the chance."  
  
Earlier that day the two had seen Nakago and his guard depart the walls of the palace. The emperor's smile seemed oddly sour, offbeat triumphant, as though he held one hell of a trump card clutched close inside his rich silk-brocade ceremonial robes. It was almost eerie the way he raked her slender, womanly body with those piercing, avaricious black eyes.  
  
Silver had felt the worry radiating from Nakago as he had ridden away on the magnificent palomino horse that was taller than she was. She had also felt the emperor's hot gazes on her back as though he were touching her, and she found herself aching to be free of the torment of the both of them, though Nakago's was benevolent and Shoukitei's was evil as the darkness itself.  
  
Nadari whimpered softly, looking up at her mother with those deep indigo eyes. This was the seventh flight of stairs they had descended; the slender, doll-like child's legs were having trouble keeping up with her mother's long, willowy ones. "Mama," she whined softly, "Mama, what's wrong? What are we doing here? I'm afraid." Her long silver curls cascaded down her back, tapering softly along her spine, and those eyes were wide and deep indigo with anxious fear. Nadari was a beautiful child, thought Silver. She wouldn't allow such fragile beauty to be soiled and destroyed and marked by that blackguard that was the emperor.  
  
The hand that held the lantern trembled a moment, then was steeled with resolve. No matter what it took! Silver would probably die. But Nadari would be safe. On her back, in a linen backpack, she carried food, added to the cool storeroom's fruits, to keep Nadari living comfortably for about two days. To begin with, Silver would lull Nadari into a day-long sleep, using the bitter wine that would gently force her tiny body to relax and fall into a deep slumber. By then Seri would show and be ready for the little girl. Silver regretted the loss of her daughter's childhood, but she wouldn't have the baby misused in that fashion.  
  
Silver suddenly saw, through the shrouding of darkness outside their sputtering lantern, the shining of brilliant, topaz eyes. Her breath stilled in her throat. But it was too late now; Nadari couldn't walk all the way back even if Silver had the nerve to emerge. "Shh. It's all right," she whispered, more for her child than anything else. She squeezed the small hand. They'd been found out. She could only hope it was friendly.  
  
A few more strides covered the ground toward the small storeroom. Silver withdrew a chain that had been hanging coldly beneath her robes, from which dangled a small iron key. She slid it soundlessly into the lock, and turned it until the tumblers inside clicked sweetly, easily open. A sigh of relief escaped her. "Come along, Nadari." Silver led the little girl inside the room.  
  
A heap of clean linens, though old and retired, graced the corner of the stone room. It was pleasantly warm inside the confines, though it was gray. Silver winced as she thought of Nadari's tiny body, asleep so seraphically, waking suddenly to find her mother gone and the night cold, and the room as black as pitch. Silver set down the lantern, then went about making a pallet for Nadari of the more serviceable linens, rolling some to make a pillow, weaving the edges of a few together to make a coverlet for little Nadari, who stood to the side, shivering, those indigo eyes wide and confused. Pain lanced Silver's heart as she finished. "Now then, sweetling. Let's change you into your nightclothes, shall we?" Silver's voice shook and weakened, then she restored it to its normal, comforting, lulling purr. She disrobed her child, then slipped the soft white-cotton shift on over the silvery curls, which she plaited with a jade- colored ribbon from her own hair.  
  
"Now, we'll have a little bedtime snack, shall we, Nadari?" Silver forced a smile, curving her gentle pink lips upwards into a smile. Into a cup she poured a quantity of the deep red wine, then dribbled in honey to make the flavor sweet. For herself she poured from a different decanter, though it was the same shade. "Mommy's brought you something special, dear. Now go on and drink, and Mommy will tell you a bedtime story..."  
  
Nadari slid under the makeshift coverlet, nestling against Silver's side. She gazed up at her mother with deep blue eyes, smiling. Silver swallowed back the tears that threatened, then began.  
  
"Once there was a land not far from here that lived in peace. The skies were blue and full of summer, and the clouds were fluffy and white and scudded like happy birds across the sun sometimes, but nobody minded. The grass was green as spring's showers in the mountains just north of Kutou. The people that lived in this magical land had big blue eyes and long silver hair, and they lived in happiness always.  
  
"One day the princess, a little girl named Ari, fell in love. Her father made her promise not to ever see the prince again, but Ari didn't stop." Nadari's eyes were drooping softly, and a listless smile slanted over her lips. Silver's heart was falling into shards, but still she continued. "One day Ari ran away from the palace to meet Siri, for that was the prince's name, and they decided to be together always. To this day, you can still see the Tree of Dreams where the names of the two who were so much in love, are carved near the top of the boughs. It is said that if you touch their names that you will never want for love again," Silver finished, and looked down at Nadari. The cup was drained, and Nadari lay curled in a kittenish ball against her.  
  
Her heart slammed to a halt. It felt as though the breath had been knocked from Silver. Tears began running in hot rivulets down her face as she gently tucked Nadari under the coverlet. That long silvery braid lay sprawled prettily on the pillow. Reluctantly Silver rose, leaving the lantern there, carefully shielded. She wiped the tears from her cheek and marched from the storeroom, keeping the key clutched tightly in her hand, so tightly that it cut the skin. Good, if it scarred; she would forever hold the mark of her child, even in death.  
  
What Silver faced no longer struck fear into her breast. She was meeting it by her own designation. She would meet death on her own set of rules, even if it was by Shoukitei's hands.  
  
"By order of the Emperor of Kutou, you will follow, Lady Silver Rains," came the low, rich voice, and Silver smiled, a strained caricature of a natural smile. So push had come to shove already?  
  
"Very well." Silver's voice did not betray her with so much as a tremble as she nodded and allowed herself to be led away from the corridors. Was it just her, or did the man's unusual, catlike amber eyes hold a tint of sadness?  
  
Inside, Silver was a storm of sadness and pain, ice settling itself around her heart. Her rainwater-silver eyes, she knew, would mirror very little, if anything. That tiny animal named Despair warred with her resolve, slashing and biting brutally, but she kept her face a study in disarming beauty.  
  
At the end of the corridor waited the emperor, his expression lascivious and dark. As those dark eyes raked her slender, feminine body, Silver could almost see the bitter longing in them. How she despised him, with his sundry shortcomings and sour desires. "Welcome, Lady Silver." His voice was low and brisk. "To my chambers, if you please."  
  
~*~  
  
Nadari awoke to find herself shivering beneath a makeshift blanket. Her silver curls were damp with sweat, and she ached all over. The last thing she recalled was her mother's gentle voice, lulling her softly to sleep, and the sweet honey taste of the drink, edged with an odd bitterness. "Mama?" she questioned the cold blackness, to hear only the echoes of her own voice.  
  
"Mama!" Nadari cried, ripping her way free of the blankets. A low, rich, male chuckle startled her, and the tiny dark chamber was suddenly lit by a lantern. Tears of relief started down Nadari's face, and she clung to the man's side, shaking in fear and cold. Her thin nightrail hardly disguised her budding charms.  
  
Over her head, Shoukitei grinned.  
  
~*~)(Two Years Later)(~*~  
  
Black on white, a stroke of ink completed the poem he'd been hard at work composing. A small smile curved his full lips as he noted at the bottom, the score for a finished piece -- his father's marking, written in emerald-green ink. "Papa, I'm finished." His voice was soft and decidedly absentminded.  
  
Suboshi looked over his son's shoulder at the finished poetry. A ripple of happiness worked itself through him. "Well done, son. We'll bring this and the rest to the palace." A smile bloomed on the boy's face. He was nearly eleven now; soon it would be time for Suboshi to send him out on his own. His brother had remained single, but then that didn't surprise him.  
  
"Yes, sir." Kai Jing's large blue eyes caught Suboshi's, hopefully. "We'll do it this morning?"  
  
"Yes." Suboshi couldn't deny his son anything, from the least trinket to the largest concession, yet Kai Jing never grew spoiled. A small smile lit Kai Jing's face. He could almost see himself in those blue eyes, but Kai Jing possessed his mother's hair, as fair as a summer sky, and her slender, willowy build. "Go on, dear, get your cloak. I'll saddle the horses as soon as I gather the scrolls with your writing."  
  
Kai Jing scattered to his father's command.  
  
~*~ End Part 1~*~  
  
Well now. It won't be long until Part 2 is up; it's already in the works! Until then, happy reading!  
  
)*(Lady Ami-chan)*( 


End file.
